Preparing ABSN students for early entry and success in the clinical setting: flipping both class and skills lab with the Socratic Method.

OBJECTIVES: Accelerated Second Degree BSN (ABSN) students have limited time to gain expertise. Reaching competency in skills takes weeks, delaying the application and mastery of skills in clinical practice. Our objective is to describe how our ABSN program fundamentals of nursing course enhances learning effectiveness and prepares students for successful entry into nursing. METHODS: Using the Socratic Method and flipping the classroom and skills lab, with deliberate practice techniques, ABSN students quickly gain competence in core aspects of nursing. Rapid acquisition of competence early in the program allows for a meaningful clinical experience. RESULTS: NCLEX pass rates for our ABSN graduates averaged 93.84% over the past 4 years, and students report high levels of satisfaction with the program. CONCLUSIONS: Using the Socratic Method in a flipped classroom and skills lab provides an environment that engages students, fosters NCLEX success, and supports development of clinical judgment critical for positive patient outcomes.

WARRIORS: An Educational Initiative Improving Clinical Judgment and Safety in Medication Administration.

BACKGROUND: Medication administration requires rigorous clinical reasoning leading to sound clinical judgment for positive patient outcomes. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing is implementing a clinical judgment model for the licensure examination. METHOD: To support the practice of clinical judgment in administering medication, improve patient safety, and better prepare nursing students for their licensure examination, a clinical reasoning initiative was developed to reflect the judgment needed for safe medication administration. An acronym, WARRIORS, captures the decision process exemplifying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to keep patients safe. RESULTS: A free training tool (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkBeGymEMuQ) and an online electronic health record (http://www.nursing.pitt.edu/aliceblazeckrn/) guiding deliberate practice provide interrelated cues to support nursing students in forming a hypothesis through taking action and evaluation. CONCLUSION: This learning initiative supports nursing students' safe and accurate medication administration and can continue to be used as they move into practice. [J Nurs Educ. 2020;59(4):231-234.].

Using Interactive Video-Based Teaching to Improve Nursing Students' Ability to Provide Patient-Centered Discharge Teaching.

BACKGROUND: Nursing students rarely are afforded the opportunity to provide discharge teaching in the acute care environment, especially at the sophomore level. METHOD: Three video modules were developed that presented examples of effective and ineffective education for patients with complex chronic conditions. Students viewed modules during postconference using portable technology. A training manual that included objectives, lesson plans, evidence-based teaching points, and a discussion model guided presentation. RESULTS: The modules were presented to 216 sophomore nursing students. Following course completion, 20 students and 10 faculty were randomly selected to participate in two focus groups. Students commented positively on the format and illustration of effective teaching. Faculty rated the teaching strategy positively and the format as easy to use. CONCLUSION: Interactive video modules can be used to foster patient teaching skills early in the nursing curriculum. Future studies are needed to evaluate the ability to transfer skills learned to the clinical setting. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(5):296-299.].

Improving Chinese nursing students' communication skills by utilizing video-stimulated recall and role-play case scenarios to introduce them to the SBAR technique.

PURPOSE: Effective communication among healthcare workers is critically important for patient safety and quality care. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate outcomes of a workshop designed to teach Chinese nursing students to use the Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation (SBAR) communication tool and examine their attitudes toward utilizing SBAR as a communication tool. METHOD: A convenience sample of 18 master's degree nursing students at a Chinese university was introduced to SBAR through a workshop. The workshop combined the SBAR tool, video-stimulated recall and role-play case scenarios to illustrate potential positive and negative communication-related patient outcomes. Students completed a 12-item questionnaire before and after participating in the workshop. Four of the items examined the four elements of the SBAR tool (situation, background, assessment, recommendation, score range 0-20), and eight of the items evaluated students' self-perceived attitudes towards utilizing the SBAR tool in their clinical practice (score range 0-40). RESULTS: Pre- and post-workshop scores on the four elements of the SBAR tool demonstrate significant improvement in knowledge of SBAR (14.0±2.9 vs. 16.6±2.2, respectively; p=0.009). Pre- and post-workshop scores on the items testing students' self-perceived abilities also demonstrate significant improvement (26.9±3.5 vs. 32.6±4.5, respectively; p<0.01) in using SBAR. Total scores increased significantly from 40.9±5.0 to 49.2±5.9 (p<0.01). Moreover, 93.8% of the students agreed and strongly agreed that they would use SBAR during clinical practice. CONCLUSION: Participating in the SBAR workshop in combination with video-stimulated recall and role-play case scenarios significantly improved the Chinese nursing students' knowledge of SBAR and their self-perceived attitudes towards using SBAR tool. Future studies using a larger sample size and longer post-workshop follow-up are needed to confirm the long-term benefits of the workshop.

Building evidence-based practice into the foundations of practice.

The Institute of Medicine asserts that evidence-based practice can become a reality because the tools to find the best evidence are available. However, teaching the naïve sophomore how to use these tools while ensuring that this first search experience is successful from both the student and the instructor standpoint is complex. The authors describe an assignment that ensures students will master the steps needed to locate quality evidence.